The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) confirmed that it did not know that Mauro Alberto Núñez Ojeda, alias “El Jando”, was the pilot who transported Ismael Zambada García to the United States after being taken by one of the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
In an information card, the institution detailed that just in June 2025, prosecutor Ernestina Godoy Ramos and her team found evidence that the detainee’s voice and fingerprints matched those of the pilot who on June 26, 2024 transported the founder of the Sinaloa Cartel and Joaquín Guzmán López from Culiacán, Sinaloa, to New Mexico.
The discovery occurred ten months after “El Jando” was handed over to US authorities along with 25 other members of organized crime, according to the same card released this Wednesday.
Detention and concealment
Núñez Ojeda was arrested in February 2025 in Jesús María, Culiacán, after an armed group traveling in an armored vehicle attacked Army and National Guard personnel. In the confrontation, one soldier died and five were injured.
When presented before the FGR, the pilot identified himself with another name. “The expert tests subsequently carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office established his true identity,” the institution noted. He was linked to proceedings for various crimes and considered a high-level member of the Sinaloa Cartel, with a risk to national security.
In August 2025, “El Jando” was handed over to the United States along with 25 other highly dangerous criminals, based on the National Security Law.
Open investigations
The FGR assured that the delivery does not extinguish the investigations. “It preserves the recordings, expert reports, interviews and other data included in the investigation folders and can request new proceedings through the legal assistance mechanisms between both countries,” he indicated.
The case shows the delays in coordination between Mexican and US agencies to identify key figures of organized crime.




